Nokia Lumia 620 unveiled, a cheaper way to get into Windows Phone 8

Nokia has announced a new addition to its range of Windows Phone 8 smartphones that includes the Lumia 820 and Lumia 920.

The Nokia Lumia 620 is described by the company as the "most affordable in its range of Windows Phone 8 smartphones" and will be hitting Asia first, in January, with Europe and the Middle East to follow soon after. Further rollout, including the US presumably, is planned, but details have not yet been revealed.

Although it is a budget phone, the Lumia 620 does feature NFC connectivity, so can pair with equally endowed Nokia accessories. And it's able to make contactless payments, of course, using Windows Phone 8 Wallet.

There's 512MB of RAM on board, with 8GB of storage space, expandable by up to a further 64GB through the microSD card slot. And Microsoft provides 7GB of SkyDrive cloud storage. The battery is 1300mAh, which is quoted as running for up to 9.9 hours of 3G talk time (14.6 hours 2G) and standby of 330 hours. Up to 61 hours of music playback is claimed before a recharge.

A variety of colours will be available, including lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black, and price is estimated at $249 (£155).

Our senior ed of news and features has been a tech and games journalist for more than 27 years, and has been with Pocket-lint for over five. Rik has edited a number of videogame magazines in the past, was deputy editor of Home Cinema Choice, and his TV career included stints as co-presenter of Channel 4's Gamesmaster and Sky One’s Games World.